Due to unprecendented demand, we have a new venue:
The new location is: YHA - Castlefield (Potato Wharf, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4NB)
We're looking forward to seeing all of you at the UK UPA inaugural meeting this Wednesday. We've had a huge response.
It looks like it's going to be a great meeting, with a diverse audience and interesting programme. The audience includes members of major commercial players, designers, academic institutions, consultancies, and freelancers.
All details are the same as before, except the location. We have moved to the YHA in Castlefield, which has a larger room to handle the large number of people who have responded.
he agenda will be:
1. MEET AND GREET. A chance to meet your colleagues across the North of England
2. EYETRACKING DEMO. A detailed demonstration of the newest eyetracking technologies.
3. USABILITY DISCUSSION. Dave Hawdale will lead a discussion on the case for usability.
4. "SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION". A section for you to introduce yourselves to the group. Within the time available, everyone is welcome to give a 90-second pitch (timing carefully enforced) saying whatever they want to promote themselves, their research, or their companies. This is intended to be a light-hearted way to help people meet each other, and hopefully to avoid having the rest of the meeting turn into a thinly veiled attempt at publicising themselves.
5. FUTURE PLANS. Discussing next steps for UK-UPA North.
6. MINGLE, EAT, DRINK.
A few words of thanks. Thanks to UK UPA for their initial support, both spiritual and financial, and for the hard work they've done to increase visibility for usability in the UK. Thanks to Serco Usability Services for matching the UPA grant to cover expenses related to the increased size of the meeting, which enabled us to secure a larger facility and more food and drinks. And special thanks to Graduate Prospects who kindly offered us their facilities, and were so gracious when we had to go elsewhere when the meeting grew so large. Thanks also to my partner in planning, Dave Hawdale of Hawdale Associates.
Please join us for the first meeting of Usability Professionals'
Association (UPA) North in Manchester. To kick off this inaugural event, we have:
- A demonstration of the latest eye-tracking systems from EyeTracker
- A question and answer panel with David Hawdale and Andrew Swartz answering questions on "What is usability, and why should we give a damn?"
- A discussion of how we plan to continue
Date: Wednesday, 2nd February
Time: 6:00
Location: Prospects House, off Oxford Road, Manchester
Cost: Free to all this time, but to reserve your place, RSVP to aswartz@usability.serco.com
So, come along and help us make this work in the north, with meeting centred in Manchester, Leeds, and Nottingham. If you are a usability professional, or just interested in it and want to meet and talk to like-minded people while enjoying some wine and nibbles, then you are invited.
Do I need to be a member?
You do not need to be a member of the UPA to attend this meeting.
Who is organising this meeting?
Andrew Swartz, from Serco Usability Services. Andrew is a Managing Consultant at Serco Usability Services, designing and leading commercial research projects, with a special focus on mobile hardware and software.
He also has a particular interest in the effects of high technology on society and democracy. Andrew serves as a key instructor for usability and design courses offered by Serco. He also publishes Usability In The Real World, a monthly column for Usability News, which can be found at www.usabilitynews.com. Before coming to Serco, Andrew spent eight years working at Apple Computer on instructional design and usability issues for projects ranging from HyperCard, the first commercial hypertext product, to Newton, the first commercial PDA (personal digital assistant). He also worked for three years at a company that developed police intelligence software. Andrew studied Psychology at Yale University where he graduated summa cum laude (highest honours) as a Scholar of the House.
David Hawdale, from Hawdale Associates. David has degrees in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science.David believes passionately that the way to make good design is to understand users and to architect, design and manage the customer experience. Previously Head of Design and Usability with Zendor in Manchester, David has directed projects with LloydsTSB Insurance, dabs.com, totesport, Northern Rock and Sony.